You get moments of sheer poetry — enough to make even veteran naturalists shed a tear, says Lake.

Lake and others watched two eagles in an aerial courtship display over the river in a February snow squall. Through a break in the clouds came a shaft of sunlight, "as though," Lake recalls, "the eagles were dancing on a sunbeam." He says, "The roughest among us shed a tear and blamed it on the wind chill."

The almanac kindles reports from all kinds of people, including a CSX train crew bound for Kingston who proudly spotted six eagles at Danskammer Point.

"I sometimes get incredulous looks when I tell kids that when I put a net in the water at the beach (in New Windsor) that I'm going to catch maybe 1,000 fish of a dozen different species," says Lake.

But he's pretty much right. And the kids are amazed.

The almanac's stated mission, after all, is "to capture the spirit, magic and science of the Hudson River."

Which is irresistible to inquisitive people like Zipay, herself a theater director and teacher.